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West sussex 1929-1959

Picture 29: 1929

Picture 79: Circa 1933

Pictured through the lens of a Sussex Daily News photographer.    

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​Looking east along the Canal towards Brighton, showing the original Electricity Works built on the banks in 1906. Beyond is the old Gas Works, which have been here since 1870.

One local resident wrote on social media, "I wonder why this was built just a few feet from the water. I do not know how old it was but when I lived in Portslade  I was told that it had been there throughout the lifetime of very old inhabitants." 

The picture below is courtesy of the Regency society and shows the cottage from a different angle.

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Tonia Edwards I grew up in Fishergate and went to the little primary school there (Fishersgate Infants School) I remember my Dad worked at the Gas Works when I was very little. He used to take my brother and I over to the harbour to 'play'. I remember going over the harbour in a rowing boat (very early memory)

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The Adur Toll Bridge pictured in 1955. It is hard to believe that this was only one of two ways to get across the Adur in Shoreham on a journey west. There used to be a toll bridge collecting a fare as you entered.

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East side of Chapel Road, Worthing.

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Kingston Wharf, Shoreham. These arches were used by trains to collect and deliver goods to ships coming into Shoreham. They were demolished in around 1980 to widen the road and because the railway beneath was no longer used.

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There were some very early memories on this post from people that were born in Burgess Hill.

The photograph is of the outdoor lido in St Johns Park, Burgess Hill which has now disappeared, but the original walls can still be seen today.

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Rowfant was a railway station on the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line in the parish of Worth, West Sussex. The line closed in 1967, a casualty of the Beeching Axe.

The locomotive pictured above is a LBSCR E4 class loco with a SECR Birdcage brake coach

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According to the Sussex Past Facebook site this is Steyning Market which was run by H J Burt.

According to a poster, this photo would have been taken at a horse sale, the horses would be run up and down the open space in the photo. The Station Hotel in the background is on the left , with houses of Southdown Terrace on the right.

On the extreme left is the old railway warehouse where auction sales of produce and dead poultry took place on the first floor, and furniture sales took place on the ground floor approached from the station forecourt.

Live poultry were auctioned in the open building on the left and the metal pens on the right were for pigs.

Presumably, the location next to Steyning Railway Station would have made transportation of livestock a lot easier.

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There were two theories about this picture on Facebook. However, it is the Thakeham Church on the far left of the picture that confirms this is indeed Thakeham. The White Lion pub is on ther right of the picture.

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According to an Alf Regis who also found these shots in a family collection, they were taken in January 1950.

The place is the South Street/ Montague Street junction, Worthing and linked to an event whereby a manhole cover exploded when a cigarette was dropped on the floor. Sadly a lady who was walking over a manhole cover at the time died when a build-up of gas exploded , resulting in her death.

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A crowd scene pictured at the bottom of South Street opposite the Marine Hotel, Worthing looking north. The old Town Hall is just visible in the background.

The men is white caps could be members of The corps of commissionaires?  They were veterans of the armed forces employed as security guards etc . See below for more photographs of the same event.

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It is thought these two photographs were of a visit of the Duke of Kent to Worthing in 1933 to open Worthing’s new Town Hall followed by a civic reception at Worthing Pier.

The Pier was later destroyed by fire and re-built two years later in its current form.

The West Sussex Constabulary woman police Constable on the extreme right in the photo outside Worthing Pier, is thought to be WPC Gladys Moss. After war work, Gladys joined the West Sussex Constabulary in 1919.

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She took up duties in Worthing and carried out all her service there until retirement in 1941 at the age of 57. She then lived in South Farm Road, Worthing.

As an aside, Gladys was a real pioneer as she was the first policewomen motor cyclist and rode various types of motor cycles for some 14 years.

Picture 34: Circa 1929

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Before the demolition of the houses at the end and far left hand side of the picture.
The white flagstone you can see at the front of the photo is thought to be one of an original pair of Parliamentary flagstones which an MP or Town Cryer might stand to make an announcement.

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Shoreham Station, looking north. The control box controlled the branch lines to Horsham or the South Coast. The colourization of the photograph is not perfect as the train and sign should be South Downs green.

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Tarrant Street, Arundel looking north towards the Norfolk Arms Hotel in the background. The exact tea rooms is still at the same location over 70 years on!

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Worthing. Looking south east across what is now South Street Square. Old Town Hall on extreme left and corner of Warwick Street/South Street in centre of image

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Shoreham Station, looking north. The control box controlled the branch lines to Horsham or the South Coast. The colourization of the photograph is not perfect as the train and sign should be South Downs green.

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Tarrant Street, Arundel looking north towards the Norfolk Arms Hotel in the background. The exact tea rooms is still at the same location over 70 years on!

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During WWII there many females working the land via the 'Land Army' growing tomatoes etc.

Worthing and many flat areas of West Sussex had lots of greenhouses similar to this supplying the people of UK with the food needed, during a time that food imports would be limited.

Tarrant Street, Arundel looking north towards the Norfolk Arms Hotel in the background. The exact tea rooms is still at the same location over 70 years on!

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